Tutorial 3--More Junk Mail X'mas Cards

This is yet another Christmas card that I made out of junk mail that needed to be reused/recycled/upcycled.  I've continued with the idea of iris folding from tutorial 2, except that this time, I decided to tape the strips to the back of the frame instead of to the front of the card.

Tutorial 
Another Christmas Card Made from Junk Mail (this tutorial is for the wreath on the left)

Materials
Thick paper for the card (I used 67 lb cover stock)--one large piece and one half its size
Junk Mail, magazine, used wrapping paper, or any pretty paper
Scotch tape
Glue
Scissors
String
Color pencil
Compasses, bowl or some circular object for drawing a circle


Time Taken
1 hour



General Idea
Cut a circular shape out of the frame, like a round Christmas ornament, or a wreath.  Tape strips of junk mail to the underside of the frame in a circular fashion.


Instructions
Step 1 and 2)  Same as in Tutorial 2.

Step 3)  Draw a circle on the half sheet of card stock (I will call this the frame).  Make sure the circle is centered horizontally.

Step 4)  Draw lines right through the diameter of the circle, at regular intervals.  I used compasses to space the lines so that each pair of adjacent lines formed a 30-degree angle.  You can just eyeball the position of the lines if you don't have compasses or a protractor.

Step 5)  Draw as big a circle as will fit onto the card, with the same center as the existing circle, ie you will have 2 concentric circles.  This step is done only to improve the speed at which you can tape the strips on.

Step 6)  Cut the smaller circle out.

Step 7)  Number the lines in a counterclockwise manner.  It doesn't matter where you start numbering.  Whether you number the lines in a counterclockwise manner or clockwise manner doesn't matter, just choose a direction and number them.

Step 8)   Cut 12 strips of junk mail, about 1.5" by 3".  Fold a raw edge of each strip to the wrong side.

Step 9)  Tape a folded strip so that its folded edge crosses:
the intersection of #1 and the outer circle
the intersection of #6 and the outer circle
Trim the strip so that you can see where each of the lines crosses the outer circle

Step 10)  Tape a folded strip so that its folded edge crosses:
the intersection of #12 and the outer circle AND
the intersection of #5 and the outer circle
Trim the strip so that you can see where each of the lines crosses the outer circle

Step 11)  Continue taping strips in a clockwise manner, trimming the access.  Whether your taping in a clockwise manner or counter clockwise manner does not matter, just make sure to choose one direction and stick with it.  As you are taping the last few pieces, you will need to overlap pieces so that the design is consistent.

Step 12)  Make sure the design looks regular from the front of the frame.  Trim off any pieces that are jutting out of the edge of the frame.

Step 13)  Glue the frame to the front of the card.

Step 14)  Tie a piece of ribbon into a bow and glue it to the bottom of the wreath.

Tutorial 2--Junk Mail X'mas Card

Since Christmas is getting close, I thought I would make a few Christmas cards.  I loooked around at my materials, and I again see junk mail that could be reused/recycled/upcycled.  I had read about a type of origami method called iris folding, and decided to incorporate it into my Christmas card.  This card can also be used as a Christmas ornament since it has a piece of string attached to the top.

Tutorial
Making a Christmas Card out of Junk Mail (this tutorial is for the card on the left)

Materials

• Thick paper for the card (I used 67 lb cover stock)--one large piece and one half its size
• Junk Mail, unwanted magazine, used wrapping paper, or any other pretty paper
• Scotch tape
• Glue
• Scissors
• Ribbon or String
• Color pencil
• Compasses, bowl or some circular object for drawing a circle
• Computer Printer for printing the template

Time Taken

1.5 hours

General Idea

The ornament portion of the card is made by overlaying strips of paper to create a 3-D look.  A piece of thick paper, with the shape of an ornament cut out of it has been glued over these overlaying strips.  This tutorial is good for understanding how iris folding works, and for looking at how your card develops from the front.  After writing this tutorial, I found some templates on the internet that I could use to make the process easier, by working on the underside of the frame, building the iris backwards.  See Tutorial 10 for free instructions on using the template.

Instructions
Step 1)  Fold the large sheet of thick paper into half.  If the paper is too large for the card, cut it to an appropriate size.  I cut mine to 6.2" by 4.5" before folding.

Step 2)  Cut a piece of thick paper (I used the same cover stock) to the same size as the front of the card (i.e. half the size of the paper in Step 1).

Step 3)  Trace a circle onto the paper from Step 2.  I will call this paper the frame.  Draw a little rectangle at the top of the circle.  Cut the circle and rectangle out so you have the shape of an ornament on the frame.  It was too difficult to get my scissors around the corners of the rectangle so I didn't actually cut the whole rectangle out.  I simply folded the rectangle to the back of the frame.

Step 4)  Lay the frame over the front of the card and locate the center of the circle.  Lightly mark this center on the front of the card, with a pencil.  This will be the center of the ornament.

Step 5)  Cut several colorful pieces out of the catalog.  These pieces will be used for the colored portions of the ornament shown in the completed card above.  The number of pieces you cut will depend on their size.  you can always cut more later if you need more.

Step 6)  Select a piece of colored paper and cut it into 4 strips, each 1 inch by 2 inches.  You may tear the pieces instead of using scissors.

Step 7)  Fold the raw edge of each of the strips under.  Form a square with these folded edges; Tape each strip to the card so that the INSIDE of the strips form a square.  Place the tape on the OUTSIDE edge of each folded strip so that the tape will not be seen.  The center marked in Step 4 is the center of the square.

Step 8)  Cut 4 strips from the leftover cover stock.  Tape these strips around those from Step 5, so the INSIDE edges form a square.  As in Step 5, tape on the outside edge of the strips.  Note that this square is bigger than the one in Step 5, and is has been rotated.

Step 9)  Cut 4 more colorful strips.  Repeat the process of forming a square with the INSIDE edges of the 4 strips.  Note that each square is bigger and is rotated just a bit.  You can use a ruler to help make sure the square isn't a trapezoid.  I made mine without the use of a ruler.  I just eyeballed the squares.


NOTE: Before taping junk mail, fold one long raw edge under first so the square you form will look neater.

Step 10)  Alternate using junk mail to form a square, and leftover cover stock to form a square.  Altogether, I formed 4 squares with junk mail and 3 squares with leftover cover stock.  


Step 11)  Place the frame over the front of the card so that the ornament looks centered, and no tape is showing.  This step is done just to make sure everything looks alright so far.

Step 12)  Cut 3 pieces of colorful paper, preferably in a color that stands out from the rest of the ornament.  These will be used to fill in the rectangular ornament holder.  


Step 13)  Fold these 3 pieces into squares and overlap them so that the bottom edge looks like a zigzag.

Step 14)  Tape these 3 pieces to the back of the frame so the zigzag shows through the rectangular portion.  If the front doesn't look good, you can always remove the tape and reposition the squares.

Step 15)  Tuck a piece of string into the upper 2 corners of the rectangle that was cut out.  Tape the ends of the string to the back of the frame.


Step 16)  Glue the frame to the front of the card.  Outline the cut out part of the frame with a color pencil for a bolder effect.  I used a blue color pencil for my outline.